Quote Of The Day
By Justin Gardner | Related entries in 2008 Election, Barack
“Republicans keep calling him naïve. But naïve is the last word I’d use to describe Barack Obama. He’s the most effectively political creature we’ve seen in decades. Even Bill Clinton wasn’t smart enough to succeed in politics by pretending to renounce politics.”
- David Brooks in a new op-ed piece entitled “The Two Obamas”
June 21st, 2008 at 1:17 pm
But Obama didn’t claim he renounced politics. He wants to move away from a certain kind of politics. Does this mean that Brooks thinks that there is only one kind of politics? Is politics only the kind that have been practiced for the last few decades? Can nothing new be created in the new communications environment we now live in?
June 21st, 2008 at 2:38 pm
I guess what Jim means by this “new” kind of politics that we are getting from Obama:
- Paying lip service to a principle like Public campaign financing, but completely ignoring the principle if for any reason it becomes politically inconvenient.
- Claim to hold one position on NAFTA when it politically advantageous in the primaries, but completely reverse that stance a few weeks later when it is no longer politically advantageous in the general election.
The only question I have for Jim: How he can you tell the difference between this “new’ politics and the “old” politics?